The Roman fort at Maryport is best known for the collection of altars, dedicated to the god Jupiter, that were found buried in a series of large pits just outside its walls. Where was this religious stonework originally displayed – and what can we learn from the remains of two temples first discovered almost 150 years ago? Carly Hilts explores a wide-ranging report on the site by Ian Haynes and Tony Wilmott.
A fourth portrait – St Ambrose of Milan – has been missing since the early 20th century.
‘While gold would still have had an intrinsic value and probably could have been used for trading in any number of circumstances, it most likely wasn’t a generally recognised form of currency.’
While many volunteer excavations were mothballed during COVID-19 restrictions, this summer has plenty of opportunities for you to get involved in fieldwork. Carly Hilts and Emilie Clowry have put together some regional highlights of what is on offer for 2022, but see www.archaeology.co.uk/digs for even more options for archaeological experiences.
The Celtic Coin Index is more technologically advanced than its predecessors.
There are lots of great heritage-related opportunities to get out and about this spring, with conferences to attend, exhibitions to visit, and excavations to sign up for. Or, if you’d prefer, there are still many archaeology-, history-, and heritage-related resources and activities to enjoy at home, whether you’re looking for a virtual tour of an ancient Egyptian pyramid, a podcast about transatlantic shipwrecks, or online games designed for children. Amy Brunskill has put together a summary of some of the options available.
This copper-alloy Roman vessel mount, produced sometime between AD 43 and AD 410, was found last year by a metal-detectorist on farmland near St Ives, Cornwall. The c.4.5cm-tall mount, most likely for a tripod, may once have supported some kind…
One of Berkshire’s oddities is that it is often forgotten that perhaps its most famous historic site is in the county at all – that of Windsor Castle. Such is the nature of this historic royal fortress, palace, and showpiece that the county fades away around it.
Your views on the latest issues in Current Archaeology.
The British Museum recently held a preview of their next exhibition, which is set to explore perceptions and depictions of women in mythology throughout history, across the globe. Carly Hilts reports on the upcoming displays, which will open next month.
Review by Christopher Catling. Reading this book reminds me of the University of London’s Warburg Institute Library, which has a unique classification system designed by the library’s founder, Aby Warburg (1866-1929), to encourage serendipitous discovery: looking for one book, your…
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
Review by George Nash. The concept of a ‘Mesolithic’, a Middle Stone Age, has been with us since the early 1930s, and many thousands of sites dating to this period have been discovered since, some submerged under our coastal waters.…
Inventive Vents has a clever way of engaging younger people with scatological anecdotes, in the style of Horrible Histories. Thus we are told that the innocuously named Carting Lane was known colloquially as ‘Farting Lane’ because of the smell of sewer gas.
Last year, Historic England archaeologists used ground-penetrating radar to confirm the remains of Tudor and Jacobean formal gardens at Belhus Park in Thurrock, Essex, the site of a manor built in the medieval period and rebuilt in the 16th century.…
The popular archaeology series Time Team has returned with its first new episodes in a decade. Felix Rowe took Current Archaeology behind the scenes at two very different excavations, investigating Iron Age Cornwall and Roman Oxfordshire.
'No intact original human burials have been found but they are thought to be represented by the disarticulated skeletal remains.'
Review by HB. This accessible and richly informative book, produced to accompany the World of Stonehenge exhibition at the British Museum (CA 384), treats Stonehenge as a ‘gateway’ into the interconnected worlds of British, Irish, and European prehistory. Wooden poles…
Burials near Whitminster villa Ten human burials have been uncovered at a development site near Stroud in Gloucester (below), which Cotswold Archaeology is investigating ahead of the construction of new training pitches for Forest Green Rovers FC. Excavations at the…
Archaeologists also found three pieces of late Neolithic or Bronze Age rock art bearing cup marks and spiral designs
Dismissed by one distinguished architectural writer as a regrettable example of Roman pomposity, ‘typical of the rather pretentious magnificence of the [Roman] Empire’, the ‘triumphal arch’ (more correctly the ‘honorary arch’) has proved to be surprisingly enduring, with a history that extends from the Roman period to the present day. Chris Catling reviews a new book by Peter Howell tracing the history of the arch through its many manifestations.
Review by CH. Those of us who enjoy relaxing of an evening with an episode or two of an archaeological TV show have been spoiled in recent years, with such tempting offerings as Digging for Britain, Digging Up Britain’s Past,…
Review by AB. Archaeological investigations have been taking place in Merseyside, in north-west England, since the 19th century, shedding light on the many communities who have inhabited the area over the last 10,500 years. In this brief but engaging publication,…
The recent renovation of Trimontium Museum in Melrose has given archaeologists the opportunity to re-examine the enduring mystery of what happened at the nearby Roman fortress of the same name – as John Reid explains.
The team also found the remains of a high-status, middle-aged woman who had been laid to rest in a lead-lined coffin.
Review by Andrew Tibbs. As a collection of maps covering almost every imaginable aspect of landscape-usage, from the Bronze Age to the early medieval period, this book covers many types of ancient landscape-use, including settlement, foodways, belief, mobility, defence, and…
A round-up of some of the latest archaeological news stories from across the globe.
The largest section of Roman mosaic to be found in London for over half a century has been uncovered in Southwark. The floor panels, which have colourful floral and geometric designs, were unearthed by Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) during…
The letter from Mark Horton in CA 382, about the work of the Friends of Repton Parish Church, prompted us to take a closer look at this society, which Mark commended as an example of the way that funds to…
What was life like for German prisoners of war who were interned in England during the Second World War? Wessex Archaeology’s recent excavation of a camp outside Oswestry in Shropshire suggests that its inmates saw out the conflict in relative comfort, with a packed programme of activities – but hints of tensions brewing between inmates and guards were also unearthed. Carly Hilts reports.
Recent geochemical research has found that most of the sarsen stones come from the same geographical area